Some nuclear experts reportedly doubt whether North Korea’s claim of a successful hydrogen bomb test is true, and speculate the regime's nuclear program is “probably” at an intermediate phase of development.

A report by the New York Times(NYT) on Tuesday asserted that there are three steps a country first needs to take to develop a hydrogen bomb, with the first stage being implosion atomic bomb that has equal destructive power to the Hiroshima blast.

The second and third stages are boosted atomic bomb and layered atomic bomb, with their powers increasing three times and 25 times, respectively, from the first stage, before they reach the final hydrogen bomb stage with one-thousand times power compared with the 1945 bombing. 

The paper said some experts believe the North is taking the second stage or racing ahead to the third stage.  

Researchers told NYT that the North is unlikely to develop hydrogen bomb anytime soon, but warned the regime is “trying to do so —  and trying hard.”

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